MEANING
1. To make someone act or comply through authority, pressure, or circumstances they cannot readily resist.
2. To create such strong interest or feeling that attention or a response seems unavoidable.
Use it for
A person is forced to act, or a scene exerts a powerful pull on attention.Expresses pressure that makes a character act, or an image or story that refuses to be ignored.
On the page
The subpoena compelled the witness to appear before the panel.
Word forms
- Base
- compel
- Past tense
- compelled
- Past participle
- compelled
- Present participle
- compelling
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- compel
- Present continuous
- am/is/are compelling
- Present perfect
- have/has compelled
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been compelling
- Past
- compelled
- Past continuous
- was/were compelling
- Past perfect
- had compelled
- Past perfect continuous
- had been compelling
- Future
- will compel
- Future continuous
- will be compelling
- Future perfect
- will have compelled
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been compelling
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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